1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and a method for warning a driver of traffic-related features.
2. Background Information
Traffic-related features within the meaning of this invention are such events, occurrences or special conditions along the traffic routes that have a special impact on the traffic flow or the behavior required of a driver. This includes, in particular, traffic jams and traffic congestion, road works, accident sites, hazards due to pedestrians or animals in the vicinity of the roadway, and road closures, but also those points, at which speeds are being monitored, for example with stationary or mobile radar speed traps or other speed measuring systems. Such traffic-related features require that the driver of a vehicle drive in a particularly attentive manner, require a particularly meticulous observance of the permitted speed limit along the route or, especially conditions in the form of traffic jams, or require that an alternate route be considered in order to avoid such a traffic jam.
Today, with the aid of navigation devices, it is common for vehicle drivers to follow routes, which had previously been calculated by the navigation devices originating from a starting point to a destination point, and along which the vehicle driver is guided with the aid of the navigation device via voice prompts and/or visual displays. It is known thereby that corresponding navigation devices that determine and continuously monitor the position of the vehicle with the aid of satellite-supported navigation signals, in particular GPS signals, also receive information regarding the nature and position of corresponding traffic-related features, for example via signals transmitted by radio traffic, navigation or other services. A vehicle driver who drives along a specific route with the aid of a navigation device is then accordingly warned about traffic-related features on his route according to certain specifications.
Often, however, vehicle drivers do not wish to use the route navigation feature on a navigation device, e.g. if they are driving a familiar route, which they can negotiate without active navigation, since they are already familiar with the route to be selected or can determine and follow a route using other methods (for example on the basis of studying a map). Motor vehicle drivers feel disturbed by the repeated prompts or displays of a navigation device, for example when they are listening to music or an informative radio station during the drive, or even when they are just having a conversation with a passenger, in particular when navigation with the aid of such a navigation device or system is not necessary.
Regardless whether or not this device is used for actual navigation, many vehicle drivers own devices suited for navigation, whether they are separate navigation devices, or whether they are multifunction devices such as smartphones, for example, which these days are equipped with GPS receivers and can be made suitable for navigation by means of navigation software. These navigation devices are frequently brought along on such trips on which there is no active navigation.
Since a warning about relevant traffic-related features that may lie on the route taken by a vehicle driver is desirable even if active navigation is not done using route navigation, the use of appropriate navigation-enabled devices for these kinds of warning purposes has been considered. One option for doing so is described in the document WO 01/55744 A2. There it is described, based on an application for warning drivers of speed-measuring devices (for example radar speed traps), for which [radar speed traps] a warning is issued to a vehicle driver, taking into account a distance of the vehicle from the position where a speed-measuring device is installed and taking into account the measurement and driving direction. If the measurement and driving direction do not match, but the vehicle is within a certain distance from the position where the speed-measuring device is set up, however, a warning is also issued
Further systems are known, in which warnings of traffic-related features such as speed-measuring devices are issued, dependent upon the aerial distance of the respective traffic-related feature from the position of the vehicle, if this aerial distance falls below a predetermined value. Likewise, there are solutions in which a check is made to determine whether the traffic-related feature is situated on a road along which the vehicle is currently travelling.
All of the aforementioned systems or methods, however, lead to a greater number of warnings of traffic-related features that lie on stretches of the road through which the vehicle driver will not even pass. Thus, for example, in the case of a warning exclusively regarding such traffic-related features as speed-measuring devices that fall within a specific perimeter at an aerial distance around the vehicle, a warning regarding a speed-measuring device that is set up on a nearby highway may be issued for a vehicle that is moving along a freeway, where, however, the vehicle driver will not pass through or does not intend to pass along this highway. A problem with the output of a large number of warnings that do not affect the vehicle driver along his or her route is that the vehicle driver will pay less attention to the warnings issued based on the number of irrelevant warnings, and will therefore attach less weight to the individual warnings or will fail to heed them. Thus warnings that are actually relevant to the driver may slip his or her attention.